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Joe Burrow Had Perfect Reaction to Question About Viral Water Bottle Video

Fans wondered about the health of the star quarterback's wrist after watching him drink water against the Patriots.

Liam McKeone

Burrow had a tough start to his 2024 season against New England
Burrow had a tough start to his 2024 season against New England / Cara Owsley / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Joe Burrow did not have a great start to the 2024 season.

He and his Cincinnati Bengals were upset by the New England Patriots at home, 16–10. The star quarterback managed only 164 yards in the air and suffered three sacks. Burrow was missing wide receiver Tee Higgins, who was ruled out due to injury shortly before kickoff; Ja'Marr Chase didn't practice for much of the summer so there's legitimate reason to believe matters will improve as the season goes on. Nevertheless, it was not an encouraging start.

Piling onto Burrow's poor fortune on Sunday, fans came out of the game speculating about how healthy his wrist was—but not because of his subpar day in the pocket. Instead, the questions mainly stemmed from a video that went viral of Burrow picking up a water bottle—the concern apparently being that he used his whole arm to grab the water bottle rather than just his wrist.

It's the sort of baseless conjecture sports fans thrive on. And on Wednesday, Burrow delivered the perfect reaction to a question about it: complete befuddlement.

"I don't know, I drank water," Burrow said when asked for his thoughts on the video. "Can't say I've seen that or know what anybody's talking about."

If anything, the Bengals' public relations team must be pleased about how Burrow handled it.

The Bengals star will have his next shot at proving his wrist is totally fine on Sunday, when Cincinnati visits the rival Kansas City Chiefs for a late-afternoon slugfest at Arrowhead Stadium.

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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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